Butter and shortening is two different fats that can be used in baking. However, butter and shortening behave different when cooking because butter contain water and milk solids while shortening dont. Because butter contains water and milk solids, it will provide moisture to an recipe.
However, shortening will not add moisture to a recipe because shortening are 100% fat. If you replace butter with shortening, then a liquid must be added to the recipe to replace the moisture that butter will providing. If butter is to replace shortening, then the water content in butter must be accounted for in the recipe.
How Butter and Shortening Affect Baking
The moisture content in butter will create steam and tenderness in the baked good. By using shortening instead of butter, the recipe will lack moisture. If you substitute shortening for butter in a recipe, then additional water or milk must be added to the recipe to compensate for the moisture that butter will provide.
Most bakers will find that using liquid will allow the baked good to retain it’s desired texture. In addition to the replacement of butter with shortening, the amount of shortening that you use can be slight less than the amount of butter that is specified in the recipe because butter is 80% fat by weight, while shortening are 100% fat by weight. Depending on the type of baked good that you prepare, butter and shortening will have different effect on that good.
Both butter and shortening contain fat, but butter contains water and flavoring while shortening do not. Because the melting point of butter is lower than shortening, butter will allow dough to spread more while baking, which will blur the details in cookies that are shape before baking. Shortening maintain a higher melting point than butter, so the dough will maintain its shape when baked.
Shortening also does not contain the flavoring that butter contains, so shortening will not lend itself towards providing the rich flavor that butter provides to baked goods. Many baking recipes does combine both butter and shortening due to the fact that it provides the structure that shortening provide while allowing the flavoring of butter to be present in the final product. Different types of baked goods require different type of fat.
Pie crusts contain shortening so that the layers will be flaky when baked, but other pie crusts will use butter so that they will contain the flavoring of butter. For cakes, shortening will create a crumb that will remain moist for several day while butter will create a denser type of cake. For frostings, shortening will remain firm in warm temperatures while butter frosting may soften if the room temperature are high.
Thus, the baker can replace the fat in baked goods so that the baker can choose between the flavor of butter or the stability of shortening in they baked goods. In terms of storage, butter should be stored in the refrigerator so that it does not go bad. Shortening does not need to be stored in the refrigerator as it will remain stable.
When preparing to bake, consideration must be given to the temperature of the fat that is to be used in the recipe. Butter can be softened to make it easier to cream it with other ingredient in the recipe. Shortening will soften more quick than butter will when both are exposed to the same temperatures.
By following these rules for both the moisture and temperature of the fat that is to be used in baking, bakers can successfully substitute butter for shortening and shortening for butter in there baked goods.